Now THAT was interesting...
As I'm sure everyone has heard, today was Super Tuesday. Interesting factoid about Colorado: we're no longer a primary state, but instead became a caucus state a few years back. Normally, I don't bother going. Our primary/caucuses are ordinarily held in late March, long after the nominee has been decided. This year the parties moved the date up to coincide with Super Tuesday. I almost didn't go, figuring I didn't want to burn the 2-3 hours in a school gym or cafeteria. Well, at the last minute, I decided I should go and see what it was like.
The caucus process is interesting. Rather than entering a polling booth and casting your vote, you gather by precinct. There can be anywhere from a few people to hundreds at the caucus. At our caucus, there were approx. 300-400 people. About 30 or so were from my precinct, which cover just my apartment complex. After we had all signed in, we took a quick poll for the various candidates and passed the results on to the organizers. Then the fun began. We spent the next 90 minutes electing delegates and alternates to the county assembly (think county party convention), the congressional district assembly and the state assembly. Our precinct got to send 5 delegates and 5 alternates to the county assembly, then 1 of each to the CD and state assemblies. I somehow managed to be elected a delegate to the county assembly and the alternate for the state assembly. Yeh, the people from my precinct must be nuts.
After that, we got to discuss and vote on various parts of the county party's platform. I was pleasantly surprised. It was overall an intelligent discussion and a lot of fun. All told, I spent a little over two hours there. It most certainly was NOT a waste of time. At least not for me.
Oh, and if the results of our caucus are any indication when it comes to the presidential nominee, the race is FAR from over. Fun times...